wokvsworksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“wok” and “works” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,773
“wok” frequency rank
#522
“works” frequency rank
38295
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wok works
Definition A large, round-bottomed cooking pan used in East Asian cooking. plural of work in its countable senses

Where the eye mixes wok and works

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
wok
5 ch
works

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wok (/wɒk/) and works (/wɜːks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wok is recorded at frequency rank #37,773, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɒk/. works is at rank #522, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɜːks/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 38295, this pair ranks #287,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wok vs works

Shared letters: kow. Private to "wok": -. Private to "works": rs.

"wok" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "works" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • worksowrks · wokrs · workks · workss · worrks · worsk · wroks · wworks

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wok" and "works" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/wɒk/ versus /wɜːks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wok" or "works"?
"works" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #522 in our English list, against #37,773 for "wok". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list